Training for a century

[Lise]

Hi, ladies! It's good to be back at TE! I had foot surgery in February, and am very eager to get back to riding. There's a century ride in mid September I'd like to do. The longest ride I've done to date was a metric century. I may not be able to pull it off, but I'd like to try.

Any suggestions for a training program to do a half or full century ride?

[salsabike]

Hey, Lise! How nice to SEE you.

This is the standard suggested training for Seattle to Portland, which is a double century. You could easily adapt this to use in training for your ride. http://www.cascadebicycleclub.com/Ea...tp_mileage.cfm

How the heck are ya, kiddo??

PS Oops, just saw your TD post and caught up that way...

[Lise]

Yikes-a-roonie! Double Century?!? Soon you'll have me biking straight up mountains all day and all night like Veronica!

Thanks for the link!

[jobob]

Hi Lise! (waves and heads off to TD)

[salsabike]

I expect if you cut the STP training schedule in half, or even down to a third, it would work just fine.

[jobob]

(OK, I'm back )

Another thing that might be worth looking into is Team in Training.

With TNT, you get coaching and support for a specific century ride (although granted there is that pesky fundraising ).

I had joined TNT to train for the Markleeville Death Ride this summer. I joined TNT because I felt I needed the structured training program in order for me to have a snowball's chance to accomplish a ride like that. I was really impressed with the organization of the local TNT chapter, and the comraderie and encouragement of my teammates. Maillotpois here on TE was even one of my coaches!

(Alas, sh*t happened so I won't be training for the Death Ride this year, but I've had such a positive experience that I might train for that same ride again next year w TNT.)

Anyhow, just thought I'd mention it. Here's the Illinois chapter website: http://www.teamintraining.org/il/

Ed. to add: sorry, I didn't at first catch that there was a specific century you had in mind

[crazycanuck]

LISE!!!!! I was thinking about you the other day!

Nice to see you back *waves* Please update us on wazz is happenun in yer laif..

[maillotpois]

Hey you!! Welcome back!

Sounds like you are doing marvelously - aside from the foot surgery. Yikes. Well, good for you for setting a post recovery goal. I find having a goal like that the only way to really motivate myself, especially coming back from injury/illness (I sure do know what that's like. )

Anyway, if you can get yourself to a 75 - 80 mile ride about 2 - 3 weeks before your target event, then you will be fine. Just work your way up, adding 5 - 10 miles every week or two and you're there. Be sure to take a recovery week where you're doing less mileage and/or lower intensity every month. And make sure you keep it fun and not a chore.

Looking forward to hearing more about you and John and everything! (I found you on FB).

[Lise]

Thanks for the basic tips, with which I do best.

When I was training for a marathon, I signed up for a program that would email me in the middle of the night telling me how many miles to run the next day. I just obeyed.

And thanks for finding me on FB! It's so wierd to get emails, "so and so wants to be your FB friend", and I think, "who the H is 'so and so'?" Then I click the link and say (for example), "Oh! It's MP from TE! Why dint'cha say so in the first place?"

And yeah, I know you know a thing or two about "coming back" from ... oh, in your case, near death... so glad mine was just two surgically fractured bones.

[Jiffer]

If you've done a metric and have until September to prepare for a full century, you'll be more than fine. As someone said, do a long ride once a week where you add 5 to 10 miles each time until you do somewhere around 65 to 80 miles a couple of weeks before. You can even break those long rides in half. Like instead of doing one 70 mile ride, do two 40 back to back. This is a training technique dh uses sometimes and I have done, depending on how much time you have to ride, etc.

You should try getting at least a couple of decent rides in during the week. I shoot for no less than 20 for a "short" ride, especially when training for long distances. It's all about getting "base miles" in. The more miles you get in, the better you'll be able to do the century. If you find your schedule isn't allowing for decent length rides, do shorter more intense rides. Add hills, intervals, etc.

And speaking of hills, make sure you know what kind of climbing is involved, if any, in your century and prepare for those, too.

One of the things I had to deal with in preparing for my first century was simply getting used to be on my bike for long periods of time. Once I hit 30 or 40 miles, I got more and more uncomfortable on the bike. My neck ached and my body just screamed to get off the bike. A professional bike fit helped a lot, but getting those base miles in also helped a lot. The more I rode, the more comfortable I got on the bike. When I realized how miserable I felt on a 60 mile ride before my first planned century, I decided to switch to the metric for that event and postponed my first full century to one a month later. It was the right decision for me. I enjoyed that metric so much more and was much better prepared for the full.

When you do a century, it's all about getting to the next SAG. Don't think about doing 100 miles. Think about doing the first 20, or however many it is to the first SAG. I always look at the route sheet and know how many miles to the next SAG, and that's my goal. Before you know it, you're doing your last stretch to the finish.

Good luck! I'm sure you'll do great.

[Lise]

Thanks for the advice, Jiffer. When I was single and riding a lot more (and tormenting/entertaining my TE friends with my match.com sagas...), I could pretty easily do 40 mile rides. I have a much lighter bike now than when I did the metric. And there are very few hills in north eastern Illinois. So all that's in my favor. Now it's just a matter of finding the time. I don't know if John will want to train with me--if he does, it will be easier because it will be "us" time. Except when I ride, I want to RIDE, not stop for ice cream, etc. We shall see. Maybe we'll get him a new (used) road bike, and he'll discover the joy of speed, too.